Data mining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttle

ABSTRACT

Enables data mining of monitored information, activities, and agreements associated with a throttling system. An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement, such as one or more tasks or activities to be performed by an agreement performer or events that may be detected, and actions performed to enforce or assert the agreement such as controlling the electronic device and/or enabling or disabling or otherwise limiting, reducing or increasing the amount or type of information allowed with respect to any or all electronic devices associated with the agreement performer.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication 61/669,541 filed on 9 Jul. 2012, the specification of whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the invention are related to the field of data mining,specifically related to data associated with information monitoring,content filtering and content control of information for electronicdevices and/or control of electronic devices or apparatus employing oneor more electronic devices, as well as compliance management and eventdetection. Specifically, enables data mining of data associated with anyelectronic devices that may be throttled including but not limited totelephones, computers, games, televisions, music players, vehicles,cars, motorcycles, remote controls for audio/visual components,household devices or any other stationary or moveable object.Embodiments enable data mining on systems that throttle or in any mannerlimit, alter, decrease or increase the functionality of any electronicdevice/apparatus and/or throttle or in any manner limit, alter, decreaseor increase information that is input to, output from, used on orexchanged with electronic devices based on compliance with “agreements”.An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement,such as one or more tasks or activities to be performed by an agreementperformer or events that may be encountered or monitored, and actionsthat are performed to enforce or assert the agreement with respect toany or all electronic devices associated with the agreement performer.For example, embodiments enable data mining on systems that utilizethrottling of electronic devices or associated information based onwhether an agreement performer such as a child has finished assignedhomework, chores or extracurricular activities or events such as weatheror health related for example or any combination thereof to redefine theexperience of parenting.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electronics devices are ubiquitous and include telephones, computers,games, televisions, music players or any other electronic devices thatare programmable, including but not limited to programmable controllersor computers within vehicles, cars, motorcycles, remote controls,household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. Many ofthese devices are being adopted and utilized for more diverse functionsand at increasingly younger ages, especially information devices. Someelectronic devices are considered to be “externally facing” because oftheir network capabilities that may include for example exchanging ofinformation with external servers. These devices may include Internetaccess, WiFi capabilities, BLUETOOTH® or other wireless communicationstechnologies, and generally have IP addresses, or other uniqueidentifiers and/or GPS functions. Currently, electronic devices thathistorically have not had an external exchange of information with acommunications network are gradually becoming network-enabled, forexample part of the standard “home network”. The home network includestelevision and/or cable set top boxes, computer printers capable ofremote status reporting, air conditioning units with remote monitoring,and even appliances, including refrigerators with remote temperaturesetting capabilities.

There are no known systems that throttle electronic devices or throttleinformation to/from/on the electronic devices, based on compliance withagreements having conditions based on activities performed by anagreement performer or events such as external events or any combinationthereof. Existing solutions related to Quality of Service (QoS) andGrade of Service (GoS) are related to providing priority to differentusers, and not providing an altered priority or service level for aparticular user based on conditions of an agreement that includeactivities or events that may directly or indirectly affect a user. Forexample, QoS products attempt to preserve a particular data flow for agiven user or application and are not capable of altering bandwidth ortype of information accessed or altering the functionality of the deviceitself based on homework status, test grades, compliance with acorporate training requirements, or health related events such as heat,cold, pollen, smog or other events.

With respect to younger age groups, use of mobile electronic devicessuch as mobile phones, tablets, and portable computers is increasingly.For example, children are being given mobile devices at younger agesand/or Internet access. This has led to a new generation of technicallyknowledgeable children whose lives are centered on “networked”communication such as texting, mobile phone calls, use of applicationson mobile devices, use of social networks/media, peer-to-peer videogames, cloud-based video games, and general websites on the Internet.For this generation, the web has expanded to well beyond e-mail ande-commerce web sites, and has become a source of videos, game playing,social connection, news, applications, and a platform for sharing ideas,music, pictures, videos and various forms of multimedia.

This incredible paradigm shift has resulted in individuals of all agesspending an inordinate amount of time using electronic devices, and inturn becoming distracted by them, hindering productivity and adverselyimpacting time and organizational management systems and in generalmaking people less engaging in person, less physically active and lesshealthy. Whether through phone calls, texting, use of apps, socialnetworks, video games, and general websites, children in their mostformative years, for example 5-12 years old and even younger and olderchildren as well, are particularly at risk for distraction. This levelof distraction leads to sub-par academic performance, incompletion ordelayed completion of household chores, or other assigned activities,such as physical exercise, taking of medications, etc. There are noknown systems that throttle electronic devices or throttle informationto/from/on electronic devices associated with children based on theircompliance with agreements or other events. For example, there are noknown systems that increase or decrease web access to websites or limitmobile phone or text message usage or any combination thereof, orotherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreement,such as achieving a particular grade on homework or a test or an eventsuch as temperature, allergy or smog events or any combination thereof.

In corporate settings, some employees are required to maintaincompetency in a particular area and are required to read or be tested,for example on safety or other job requirements. There are no knownsystems that throttle electronic devices or throttle informationto/from/on electronic devices associated with employees based on theircompliance with agreements or other events. There are no known systemsthat limit web access to work related websites or limit mobile phone ortext message usage within a building or any combination thereof, orotherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreement,such as taking a required training test or an event such as a weatheremergency or any combination thereof.

One method for controlling these devices and/or networks is toconfiscate the devices, or deactivate Internet access. This is sometimesdifficult to do or may cause safety issues by disabling ones ability todial emergency telephone numbers for example. Other solutions to limitInternet access include use of proxy servers or web filtering software.Known proxy servers and web filtering software are basic content filtersthat filter information on computers based on a web address or thecontent at a website. In effect, these filters limit “what” a user mayview or do. These types of filters generally block all information froma domain or website that contains content that meets some criteria,wherein the blocking is based entirely on the content itself and not anyexternal criteria or conditions or events. In addition, some types offilters have time ranges for use that limit the times at which a usermay view or do something. Phone based filtering is used for parentalcontrol to limit the number of texts or cell phone minutes that a childmay use, or to alert a parent if a child is out of a defined area. Othersolutions may disable texting if the mobile phone is moving, to preventtexting while driving, without regard to a portable computer such as atablet or laptop that a child may have which may not block thisbehavior. Hence, known solutions are also standalone, configured on aper device basis and not across devices associated with a particularperson.

Knowledgeable users may easily bypass some types of content filters. Onesuch method for bypassing these types of filters includes using open andanonymous HTTPS transparent proxies for example. Thus, known filterscannot control email, instant messages or chat sessions in anysophisticated manner since these types of open proxies may be utilizedto bypass any installed web filtering software.

Other solutions do not actually control the devices, but rather involvemonitoring software that is highly invasive and intercepts or otherwisesupervises electronic devices and copies keystrokes, screen images, textmessages and any other input or output to the electronic device to athird party for surveillance purposes. This type of solution is used tomonitor children, employees, in intelligence services and for remotehome surveillance for example. There are negative limitations to thissolution, privacy being a major problem area.

On the positive side of reinforcement, there are also point basedincentive systems that attempt to positively reward a person for a typeof behavior, for example by earning points. These types of systems arealso standalone and do not tie into any electronics to limit usage inany intelligent manner for example for across multiple electronicsdevices associated with a person, such as a child or employee orinstitutionalized individual.

There are no known systems that control electronic devices, for exampledim screens, activate sounds, introduce delays or throttle, decrease orincrease the amount of or type of information to/from/on the electronicdevice based on compliance with an agreement or event or any combinationthereof. This includes vehicles, such as a car, wherein there are noknown solutions that set a maximum acceleration setting based onperformance on homework or a grade obtained on an examination as part ofan agreement for example or based on an event such as if a weatherwebsite indicates a chance of slippery road conditions or an accidentlocal to an area where the automobile is currently travelling or anycombination thereof.

There are no known systems that increase bandwidth or sources ofinformation for an agreement performer if the agreement performer haswalked, biked, run or swim or otherwise moved by their own effort over apredefined distance for health compliance. There are no known systemsthat throttle or increase bandwidth in case of high pollen count or smogalert events to encourage a child to stay inside and surf the web orplay games, or decrease bandwidth or type of information if the weatheris good outside to promote exercise such as physical game play insteadof video game play. There are no known systems that throttle or limit orreduce bandwidth or sources of information based on the location of anelectronic device if a child is currently grounded and increase thebandwidth in the location where the child is not grounded. There are noknown systems that limit game playing capabilities or levels in gamesbased on compliance with an agreement or event. There are no knownsystems that limit playlists, or particular songs or song types, e.g.,with offensive lyrics, based on compliance with an agreement or event.There are no known systems that throttle a device based on activitiesassociated with another user or a group of other users, i.e., friends ofa child or work groups to encourage better circles of friends orimproved group performance. This for example enables a parent toindirectly reward a child to encourage a child to associate withwell-behaved children.

In addition, there are no known systems that data mine for rewards thatmay be utilized by a parent for a reward that is similar to a reward fora condition that another parent or person has utilized. There are noknown systems that enable manufacturers to data mine for types ofrewards or incentives and target a group of parents or persons that maybuy certain types of products based on agreements and conditions. Thereare no known systems that enable parents or other persons to remain upto date on items popular amongst children that are based on agreementsthat other parents have entered and which have resulted in rewards formeeting conditions of the agreements. There are no known systems thatdisplays potential rewards based on bandwidth usage based on informationmonitoring with respect to a condition of an agreement, to providefurther incentive to perform a task for example. There are no knownsystems that provide popups or text messages during game play showingtasks to be completed according to agreements. There are no knownsystems that determine if a child is communicating with a known sexoffender, for example based on sex offender maps and IP tracing, forexample alert to a parent and potentially throttle other forms ofelectronic device utilization to further protect a child. There are noknown systems that alert a parent when a child's friends have gotten introuble or are not meeting their agreements, so that a parent may limita child's interactions with particular people or groups. There are noknown solutions that limit a person's agreement with himself or herselfto throttle usage based on addictive behavior such as online gambling orobsessive pornography viewing. There are no known systems that data minean agreement database having multiple parents and children to determinewhether a parent is strict or not strict, or to rate how strict a parentis being with respect to other parents, agreements and conditions, or inany other manner rate what kind of parent a parent is based on how achild is performing and the rewards that a child is receiving forexample. There are no known systems that provide tips or recommendationsfor example to improve a child's performance based on parent and/orchild behavior with respect to agreements.

In summary, known solutions either intrusively monitor, or filtercontent entirely on a per device basis and do not throttle informationbased on conditions, or compliance with agreements or events, forexample that are network detectable. Known solutions simply enable ordisable the information entirely and on a per device basis withoutregard to the other devices associated with an agreement performer, suchas a child, or employee or other user. For example, known solutions donot throttle an electronic device to limit or decrease or increaseinformation input, output or exchanged with one or more electronicdevices such but not limited to a telephone, computer, game, televisionor music player or any other device having a computer or any combinationthereof based on whether a student has finished assigned homework,chores or extracurricular activities, or whether an employee hascomplied with a work requirement.

For at least the limitations described above there is a need for a datamining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttle.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One or more embodiments on the invention enable a data mining system foragreement compliance controlled information throttle. Embodiments enabledata mining of any throttling systems that may be utilized to throttle,or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase the functionality ofelectronic devices and/or throttle, or in any manner limit, alter,decrease or increase the information that is input to, output from, usedon or exchanged with electronic devices based on compliance with an“agreement”. An agreement includes one or more conditions to satisfy theagreement, such as one or more tasks or activities to be performed by anagreement performer or events that may be encountered or monitored, andactions that are performed to enforce or assert the agreement withrespect to any or all electronic devices associated with the agreementperformer. Enables data mining of data associated with, obtained from,monitored by, communicated with or otherwise utilized by any electronicdevices that may be throttled including but not limited to telephones,computers, games, televisions, music players, vehicles, cars,motorcycles, remote controls for audio/visual components, householddevices or any other stationary or moveable object. For example,embodiments enable data mining of systems that implements throttling ofelectronic devices or associated information based on whether anagreement performer such as a child has finished assigned homework,chores or extracurricular activities or events such as weather or healthrelated for example or any combination thereof to redefine theexperience of parenting. Embodiments may be utilized to data mineagreement based throttle information associated with corporate orinstitutional or self-compliance single user settings.

Embodiments generally utilize or interface with an agreement databasethat includes an agreement that can be between two roles, which may beplayed one or more humans, for example an agreement creator and anagreement performer. This may include parents and children or employersand employees or any other role between agreement creator and agreementperformer. These roles may be taken by the same person, or by groups ofpeople. A throttle system enables electronic device usage dependent uponagreements between parents and children, e.g., throttling access towebsites/apps/text messaging or total time of electronic device usageacross all devices associated with a child based on completion ofschool, home or extracurricular activities, which is heretofore unknownin the art. Embodiments may be utilized in corporate or institutionalsettings as well for compliance with corporate requirements. Theagreement may be implemented for example in an object oriented orrelational database or any other type of data retaining apparatus. Theagreement generally includes information related to an agreementperformer, an agreement creator, a condition to be satisfied by theagreement performer, or an event that may or may not be related to theagreement performer and an action to be performed based on compliancewith the condition by the agreement performer. In one or moreembodiments of the invention, the agreements may include actions/limitsthat are performed or enforced before a condition is satisfied.

One type of condition may be based on an activity performed by theagreement performer. The system may data mine, utilize or interface withone or more activity database that contains activity status associatedwith the condition to be satisfied by the agreement performer. Theactivity database may be integrated with the agreement database orseparate or distributed in any manner as desired. One form of activitydatabase is a School Information System or SIS, which holds assignments,tests, grades, dates and other school related activities and associatedstatus. The compliance and activity status may be based on trust,evidence or confirmation or any combination thereof.

Bandwidth or information type may be throttled down or up, and thisthrottling may be data mined for patterns unknown a priori for example.For example if an employee has not completed a required corporatetraining session, their bandwidth or access to text messages or websitesmay be decreased for example. Alternatively, throttling of bandwidth ortype of information may be increased, for example in the case of anevent such as high pollen count or smog alert that the system detects oris otherwise made aware of. This encourages children or employees toremain inside to use electronic devices in case of hazardous outdoorconditions or alternatively encourages children or employees to locateoutdoors in healthy conditions.

Another type of condition may be based on an event that may bediscovered or otherwise determined by the system. In one or moreembodiments, the system may also encounter, discover, obtain or in anyother way utilize events to control the electronic device, for exampleset information parameters in the electronic device that alters thefunctionality of the electronic device, or data mine the events todetermine patterns in the events. For example, one or more embodimentsof the invention may data mine for occurrences of throttle events thatset the maximum acceleration setting in a computer that controls avehicle based on performance on homework or a grade obtained on anexamination as part of an agreement, or based on an event such as aweather event that is discovered by the system when a weather websiteindicates a chance of slippery road conditions or an accident local toan area where the vehicle is currently travelling or any combinationthereof. The data mining may thus determine efficacy of actions orenable marketers to target parents or employers with products thatresult in better performance for a student or employee. Embodiments ofthe throttling system may throttle information parameters up or in anany increasing fashion as well, wherein the acceleration setting in thecomputer on the vehicle may be increased to allow for more aggressivedriving performance if the agreement performer has complied with anagreement or in case of emergency as determined by the system or in caseof exiting an area where an accident has been passed.

Furthermore, the volume of a car radio or stations allowed, or a musicplayer utilized whether or not moving in a vehicle, may be set based onthe activities of the agreement performer, for example good grades orbad grades, or based on the weather events for example to set a stationautomatically to a weather or hazard channel if the weather eventdetected is of a particular nature. The combination of setting orthrottling devices themselves or information associated therewith may bebased on activity type conditions and event type conditions or anycombination thereof, which is unknown in the art and the data mining onthis type of information is thus also unknown in the art.

The throttling system may utilize an agreement monitor coupled with theagreement database and the activity database that is configured to checkif the condition has been satisfied based on the activity status todetermine compliance. Alternatively or in combination the agreementmonitor or any other element in the system may be configured to utilizethe Internet or other network connection to discover events that maytrigger conditions of agreements and assert actions. The agreementmonitor may be implemented in a variety of configurations that maymonitor agreements, activities, events or any other quantity wherein theagreement monitor may execute on any computing element within thesystem.

An information monitor may be utilized in many configurations whereinthe information monitor is configured to determine monitored informationassociated with an electronic device that is associated with theagreement performer. Alternatively, or in combination, the informationmonitor may locally check conditions based on the monitored informationto determine when a limit is reached. For example, if a certain numberof text messages have been sent/received in a month, the system maylimit or block access to all text based applications on all devicesassociated with a child by broadcasting the monitored information and/orlimit event to the agreement server and/or other electronic devicesassociated with the agreement performer. By determining the monitoredinformation, for example the application being utilized, the informationbeing viewed, the amount of text messages input, etc., the throttlingsystem may throttle the amount or speed of that monitored information,or allow or block the information altogether based on compliance, asopposed to content. Embodiments of the throttling system may throttleinformation by throttling associated applications as well, byintroducing delays and or dimmed screens, or asserting sounds orwarnings or otherwise limiting the application, or disabling theapplication altogether.

In one or more embodiments, the throttling system utilizes aninformation throttle coupled with the agreement monitor and optionallycoupled with the information monitor, wherein the information throttleis configured to perform the action, based on the compliance with thecondition by the agreement performer, or event associated with thecondition. The information throttle may implement the action wherein theaction is configured to control the electronic device itself, forexample dim a screen, activate sounds, introduce delays and/or limit orthrottle or decrease or increase the monitored information associatedwith one or more electronic device, for example slow or limit the numberof text messages on a cell phone, display of web pages for any set ofweb sites, display a reminder on a television to finish homework ifchanged to a particular channel or program, or in any other mannerlimit, allow or block information. For example, throttling systemembodiments may limit access to a website or disable an application,play an audio message during music playing, or in any other mannerlimit, allow or block any functionality of any electronic deviceassociated with the agreement performer. Embodiments of the throttlingsystem may perform in a non-standalone or integrated manner in order todisable all texting on all devices associated with a child if a textmessage is sent from a particular location, for example if “grounded”,or while moving over a threshold speed indicative of driving. In one ormore embodiments of the invention, if a text message is sent via amobile computer or tablet and a cell phone associated with the child ismoving over a certain speed, then the computer or tablet may blockaccess by obtaining a speed event from the cell phone and determine thatthe child is attempting to bypass text throttling through use of adevice other than a cell phone to send a text message.

In a parent/child embodiment, a parent may embody the agreement creatorand may propose an agreement with a condition such as “IF all assignedhomework is completed by 9 PM” and an action such as “enable socialmedia websites for 1 hour at unlimited bandwidth across all electronicdevices associated with an agreement performer, and 1 hour with 50%speed degradation up to 20 text messages”. In this scenario, a child mayembody the agreement performer, and may agree to the conditions in orderto obtain access to information, including websites, videos and/ortelevision shows, text messages, phone minutes, game time, music, etc.In this scenario, the condition is effectively an activity to beperformed by the agreement performer. In other scenarios, the conditionmay be related to an activity performed by a third party, such as “ifpayment from third party received is greater than $50” then an action of“enable text messaging” for example on the mobile phone associated withthe child, for example if the child has earned enough money from a jobor chores. Conditions may also include time components in addition to anactivity, for example when some activity is due. Alternatively, or incombination, the time component may include a time range, for example atime start and time stop. The time component may be in any format andinclude any temporal information including a day, date, recurringinterval such as “every other Friday”, or any other description relatedto time. One or more embodiments of the invention may show text or playaudio reminders on electronic devices of upcoming deadlines, e.g., testsor homework or chores or piano lessons or any other activity with anassociated deadline or due date. Embodiments of the throttling systemmay implement actions that throttle or limit monitored information inany manner. For example, actions may include a time limit that limits anamount of time that the monitored information may be utilized ordisplayed on the electronic device, or a total across all electronicdevices associated with a particular agreement performer, a numericallimit that limits a number of data entries associated with the monitoredinformation, a web limit that limits access to a website associated withthe monitored information, an application limit that limits access to anapplication associated with the monitored information, a game limit thatlimits game parameters associated with the monitored information, atelevision limit that limits a television program or channel associatedwith the monitored information. Video and television are utilized hereinas different delivery mechanisms for potentially the same time sequencedmulti-picture media, whether delivered on a computer or television.Activities may originate from the electronic devices themselves and mayinclude any output that each electronic device is capable of generating,such as the output results of character inputs, to determine if a childhas read an entire chapter. Conditions, for example that specify eventand values thereof or ranges may be utilized including but not limitedto the orientation, location, speed or any other characteristic of anyelectronic device, along with a description of the application beingused may then be utilized to assert an action, for example to limit textmessaging if driving for example, even if the texting is occurring on adevice other than the device that is capable of detecting speed. Eventssuch as location-based events may be checked against agreements to findout whether to assert an action to control an electronic device orthrottle information to/from/on the electronic device. For example, if achild is grounded, then bandwidth may be decreased or terminated outsideof the grounded area and increased when the child is within the groundedarea. In addition, events such as predefined distance events that occurif an agreement performer has moved themselves over an agreed upondistance and for example under the speed associated with a car may beutilized to throttle or increase the amount of bandwidth or type of datathat the agreement performer may interact with or game playing levelsmay be increased or more aggressive games may be allowed or more weaponsmay be enabled within games or playlists with more energetic music maybe enabled, etc.

One or more embodiments of the throttling system may interface with orotherwise utilize one or more activity databases that include activitiesrelated to schoolwork, chores or extracurricular activities or anycombination thereof. For example, an activity database such as a schoolinformation system or SIS that includes homework activities and otherassignments or tasks and associated activity status may be utilized. Inaddition, a parent may implement a similar system with chore relatedactivities including “mow the lawn every other Saturday” with associatedactivity status of True or False for the current time period. Theassociated action may include “enable 20 extra phone minutes” or “enableTV program XYZ” or any other action including “transfer $20 to allowancemoney card” for the payment of an allowance for example. The activitystatus may information related to completion of an activity assigned tothe agreement performer in the form of Boolean True or False, or arange, which may be utilized a range of actions based on a condition of“grade A”, “grade B”, “grade C” conditions in a particular class or on aparticular test or as a cumulative average across classes or any othercombination thereof. This range of conditions may be utilized to providea corresponding range of actions that correspond to the differentgrades, for example “provide unlimited web browsing”, “degrade browsingspeed by 20%”, “send alert when electronic device is greater than 0.25miles from home”, to implement a “grounding” of the child respectively.

Non-time oriented conditions or events may also be implemented, forexample if a speed of an electronic device is indicative of driving, anaction such as limiting or disabling text messaging from one or moreelectronic devices associated with an agreement performer may beimplemented. This condition may be broadcast widely or locally to limitor disable text messaging if moving over a certain speed indicative ofdriving or may be conditional based on a location of movement, such asin a school zone. Any other condition or action that throttlesinformation to one or more electronic devices associated with anagreement performer is in keeping with the spirit of the invention.Alternatively, or in combination, if an agreement performer has walkedor run over a certain distance as per the GPS tracking on the electronicdevice associated with the agreement performer, then bandwidth or accessmay be increased. This may be utilized for medical purposes to ensurethat the agreement performer is getting the prescribed amount ofexercise. In addition, bandwidth or access time or access to particulargames, websites, text messaging or any other electronic device usage maybe increased for example on days with high smog or high pollen counts orbased on any other external condition, whether medical or not. All ofthis information and all other information that the throttling systemmay obtain may be data mined and sold to marketers for example.

In corporate settings, some employees are required to maintaincompetency in a particular area and are required to read or be tested.Embodiments of the throttling system may be utilized to controlelectronic devices or limit information to/from/on electronic devicesassociated with employees based on their compliance with agreements. Forexample, embodiments may limit web access to work related websites orlimit mobile phone usage within a building or any combination thereof,or otherwise as described herein, based on compliance with an agreementor an event or any combination thereof. Embodiments may be utilizedwithin institutions such as jails to provide incentives for compliancewith increases in bandwidth or type of information based on goodbehavior.

Any combination of hardware may be utilized to implement the system. Inone or more embodiments, the agreement monitor is configured to executeon the server computer that for example be remotely accessed over acomputer network. The information monitor and information throttle mayexecute on an electronic device associated with the agreement performer,or on a router, or a cable set top box, or any other computationalcomponent coupled with the system or any combination thereof so long asthe information monitor and information throttle may limit monitoredinformation associated with the agreement performer based on compliancewith an agreement. In one or more embodiments, the information monitoris configured to interface with a proxy server or web filteringsoftware, to enable existing hardware or software content filteringsolutions to throttle monitored information based on compliance by anagreement performer, in addition to their inherent content filtering. Inone or more embodiments, any electronic device on a local area networkmay communicate with any other electronic device on the local areanetwork to coordinate or in any other manner communicate informationregarding information monitoring and enforcement, for example usingmDNS.

In one or more embodiments, monitored information includes telephonetime usage, a number of telephone calls, a telephone number, a number oftext messages, a location of the electronic device, a speed, location,orientation, acceleration of the electronic device, a website address, acomputer application that is running or has run or attempted to run, agame, a television channel, an image captured from the electronicdevice, an image captured from a camera coupled with the electronicdevice. Embodiments of the invention may implement an action configuredto limit the monitored information to limit input to, output from ordata exchange with the electronic device. Other actions may transfermoney, send notifications to other parties, etc. Alternatively or incombination an action may be configured to limit the monitoredinformation in a manner for example that degrade performances on theelectronic device. This may be implemented as processing cycles or timedelays that may be inserted between accepting input or displayinginformation or transferring information to or from the electronicdevice.

At least one embodiment of the throttling system may control or throttleone or more electronic devices in an integrated manner or control orthrottle information to/from/on one or more electronic devicesassociated with an agreement performer in an integrated manner, such asa telephone, a computer such as a laptop, tablet, smart phone, or amusic player, a game controller, or a television, or any other devicesuch as a network interfaced device or any information input or outputdevice, or any apparatus with a programmable element such as a computeror any combination thereof.

In one or more embodiments, the action may be performed across two ormore electronic devices associated with the agreement performer, forexample a telephone, a computer, a music player, a game or a television,or any other information input or output device, or any combinationthereof. In this embodiment, the agreement monitor is configured to sumthe monitored information from each respective information monitor intoa combined monitored information total and the information throttle isconfigured to limit the monitored information on each of the two or moreelectronic devices based on the combined monitored information total.This for example can be utilized to limit total time spent by a childonline, watching television, playing electronic games, texting andtalking on the phone, so that the child for example may do any of theseactivities so long as the time spent doing all of the activities is lessthan a particular threshold, after which for example a degradedperformance may be employed on one or more of the electronic devices ifdesired. Although this example relates to time, it may also relate toany monitored information. For example, limiting a child to 1 hour webbrowsing across all electronic devices such as a cell phone, tabletcomputer and laptop computer is accomplished by adding the usage fromall monitored devices and throttling all devices when the limit isreached. This sophisticated throttling of information is unknown in theart with respect to agreement compliance and known content filters andmakes the agreement monitor the enforcer, not the parent.

At least one embodiment of the information throttle or agreement monitoror any other component in the system is configured to notify theagreement creator based on the compliance. This can be in the form of anemail, text message, web page, voice message, or any other type ofcommunication and may include a display such as a visual or audiodisplay of information related to the compliance. In addition, theagreement monitor may be configured to display information to theagreement creator or other party related to an attempt to bypass theaction configured to limit the monitored information by the agreementperformer. For example, electronic devices having cameras may takevideos or pictures, for example with forward or reverse pointing camerasand send the pictures to a parent, and/or perform face recognition onany images to determine if the child that is associated with theelectronic device is really the one using it. The system may then sendan attempted bypass message to the parent or other child's parent notusing the system, after looking up the face in any social media accountsassociated with the child, and for example upsell the system to theother child's parents. Alternatively or in combination, the agreementmonitor is configured to display information related to the complianceand the monitored information. The agreement monitor is generallyconfigured to accept input from the agreement creator to define thecondition and the action. All information that is monitored, and anyevents generated based thereon may be encrypted when broadcast, as maybe the case for any conditions and actions that are communicated betweendevices as one skilled in the art will appreciate.

In addition, embodiments of the invention may be configured to allow aparent or other entity to data mine for rewards that may be utilized fora reward that is similar to a reward for a condition that another parentor person has utilized, for example with respect to a particularcondition, e.g., a reward for an “A” on a final exam. Embodiments of theinvention may also be configured to enable manufacturers to data minefor types of rewards or incentives and target a group of parents orpersons that may buy certain types of products, for example based onagreements and conditions. This allows manufacturers to target parentsof friends of a child that just won a particular reward for achieving acondition for example. Embodiments of the invention also enable parentsor other persons to remain up to date on items popular amongst childrenthat are based on agreements that other parents have entered and whichhave resulted in rewards for meeting conditions of the agreements. Thisallows parents to receive product literature, overviews, pictures,movies, blogs or other information to keep a parent “hip”. Embodimentsof the invention may be configured to display potential rewards on anelectronic device being utilized by a person, for example based onbandwidth usage based on information monitoring with respect to acondition of an agreement, to provide further incentive to perform atask for example. Alternatively or in combination, embodiments of theinvention may also provide popups or text messages during game playshowing tasks to be completed according to agreements. This capabilityallows a child to see a potential reward for studying, for example whileplaying a game, wherein the child may make a decision to go study orsimply to remind the child that a test is coming up or that homework isdue. Embodiments of the system may also determine if a child iscommunicating with a known sex offender, for example based on sexoffender maps and IP tracing, and alert a parent and potentiallythrottle other forms of electronic device utilization to further protecta child. Embodiments of the invention may also alert a parent when achild's friends have gotten in trouble or are not meeting theiragreements, so that a parent may limit a child's interactions withparticular people or groups. Embodiments may be utilized in a one-personconfiguration to throttle usage based on addictive behavior such asonline gambling or obsessive pornography viewing. Embodiments of thesystem may also allow for information in the system to be data mined,wherein an agreement database having multiple parents and children ismined to determine whether a parent is strict or not strict, or to ratehow strict a parent is being with respect to other parents, agreementsand conditions, or in any other manner rate what kind of parent a parentis based on how a child is performing and the rewards that a child isreceiving for example. Embodiments of the invention may also providetips or recommendations based on parent and/or child behavior withrespect to agreements, for example as data mined to achieve betterperformance by the child. The system may provide a suggested type ofaction to take based on levels of performance of conditions by a childfor example. Data mining may also be performed to detect attentiondeficit disorder (ADD) or any other medical condition, for example bymining for patterns in monitored information, such as reaction time ingames, grades and derivatives of grades to determine if a child isimproving or getting worse for example with respect to certainmedications. Data mining may be utilized to suggest alternative coursesof treatment that increase or decrease the throttled information orenable or disable particular forms of communication, channels, apps orgames, etc., to improve an agreement performer or the performance of anagreement performer, for example with our without data mininginformation related to medical information.

Embodiments of the invention may be configured to enable payment fordata mining of the information regarding activities, usage, equipmentidentification or any other quantity stored in any element of thesystem. Embodiments of the invention may also be purchased on a fee foruse basis, monthly basis, enterprise basis, or in any other manner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the inventionwill be more apparent from the following more particular descriptionthereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an architectural view of an embodiment of the datamining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttlesystem.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a schema utilized in an embodimentof an agreement database.

FIG. 3 illustrates multiple embodiments of schemas utilized inembodiments of activity databases.

FIG. 4 illustrates at least one embodiment of the functionality employedby agreement monitor.

FIG. 5 illustrates embodiments of various components or electronicdevices in the system that may be utilized to host an informationmonitor and information throttle or any combination thereof.

FIG. 6 illustrates a game interface showing an avatar of an agreementperformer in the game, along with throttle information based on currentinformation monitoring and limits in conditions along with a reward forperforming an activity.

FIG. 7 illustrates a display coupled with a television, cable set topbox, satellite set top box, or website video interface with conditioninformation shown on a throttled program, channel or video, along withan override password entry option.

FIG. 8 illustrates an interface for an agreement creator, such as aparent, showing information that has been data mined relative to otherparents, children, relative or absolute performance status ofactivities, actions such as rewards, or recommended rewards, graphicalinformation depicting any combination of information and any warnings.

FIG. 9 illustrates an interface for an agreement performer, such as achild, showing upcoming deadlines or events, along with any actions suchas rewards or reprimands, activity status, along with activity statusthat has been data mined with respect to a group of children that arethe child's friends, graphical information for example a map which showsa boundary of grounding if a particular activity status is not achievedfor a test for example, along with any medical or other warnings.

FIG. 10 illustrates a notification to an agreement creator and/orperformer indicating that contact from a sex offender or other unwantedcontact has been received along with an interface for contacting lawenforcement.

FIG. 11 illustrates a data mining interface to find actions, activities,products, equipment, usage or any combination thereof based on a queryof information in the system related to data associated with any item ofinformation in the system.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart for the information monitors of FIG. 1.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart for the ensuring information that ismonitored is associated with the correct agreement performer.

FIG. 14 illustrates a high level architecture for information monitorsand information throttles and their relation to the electronic deviceand agreement server.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A data mining system for agreement compliance controlled informationthrottle will now be described. In the following exemplary descriptionnumerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a morethorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. It will beapparent, however, to an artisan of ordinary skill that the presentinvention may be practiced without incorporating all aspects of thespecific details described herein. In other instances, specificfeatures, quantities, or measurements well known to those of ordinaryskill in the art have not been described in detail so as not to obscurethe invention. Readers should note that although examples of theinvention are set forth herein, the claims, and the full scope of anyequivalents, are what define the metes and bounds of the invention.

Embodiment of the invention 100 may be utilized to data mine the systemshown that is enabled to throttle, or in any manner limit, alter,decrease or increase the functionality of electronic devices and/orthrottle, or in any manner limit, alter, decrease or increase theinformation that is input to, output from, used on or exchanged withelectronic devices based on compliance with an “agreement”. An agreementincludes one or more conditions to satisfy the agreement, such as one ormore tasks or activities to be performed by an agreement performer orevents that may be encountered or monitored, and actions that areperformed to enforce or assert the agreement with respect to any or allelectronic devices associated with the agreement performer. Anyelectronic devices may be throttled including but not limited totelephones, computers, games, televisions, music players, vehicles,cars, motorcycles, remote controls for audio/visual components,household devices or any other stationary or moveable object. Forexample, embodiments enable throttling of electronic devices orassociated information based on whether an agreement performer such as achild has finished assigned homework, chores or extracurricularactivities or events such as weather or health related for example orany combination thereof to redefine the experience of parenting.

FIG. 1 illustrates an architectural view of an embodiment of the datamining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttlesystem 100. Embodiments generally involve an agreement that may bebetween two roles, which may be played by one or more humans, forexample agreement performer 101 and agreement creator 102. Agreementcreator 102 may be an employer or parent for example, while agreementperformer 101 may be an employee or child, or for example may representother relationships such as a doctor and a patient, warden and prisoner,etc. Alternatively, agreement creator 102 may be agreement performer 101or agreement performer may include a group of two or more individuals,groups of parents, clubs, circle of friends, etc. The agreement isutilized to throttle electronic devices 110 a, 110 b, 110 c by settingparameters or other information that limits or alters theirfunctionality in some manner or throttles information to/from/onelectronic devices 110 a, 110 b and 110 c and any other electronicdevices associated with the agreement performer in an intelligent andintegrated manner. In one or more embodiments, the agreement includesconditions involving activities or events or any combination thereofthat are generally created by the agreement creator or which may bedefault agreements. Only three types of electronic devices, includingthe control computer 110 c of the vehicle, are shown for brevity,however the system may interface with any type of electronic device, aspreviously listed above.

System 100 may access and store agreements in agreement database 170, orin any other component of the system for example. The system may utilizeagreement monitor 161 for example implemented as hardware in the form ofa specific functional element, software or firmware that executes onagreement server 160, or on any other component that is coupled with theagreement database and the activity database. The agreement monitor isconfigured to check if a condition has been satisfied to determinecompliance. One type of condition may be based on activity status inactivity database 180 a, or 180 b, or 180 c or otherwise communicated tothe agreement server in any manner. One form of activity database is aSchool Information System or SIS, which holds assignments, tests,grades, dates and other school related activities and associated status.The databases may be accessible over Internet 150, or in any othermanner for example. Another type of condition may be based on an eventthat may be discovered or otherwise determined by the system by polling,or by receipt of an event or by searching or in any other manneremployed by the agreement monitor or information monitor discuss below.Internet 150 may be utilized by the system to obtain events related toweather, health, allergies, finances, road conditions or any other typeof data that may be accessed on Internet 150 and for example that mayform part of a condition of an agreement for example.

An information monitor such as information monitor 131 a, 131 b or 131 cmay be utilized in many configurations wherein the information monitoris configured to determine monitored information associated with anelectronic device that is associated with the agreement performer. Theinformation input to, output from, used on or exchanged with or in anyother manner utilized by electronic devices 110 a, 110 b and 110 c andthat is transmitted and/or received is depicted with arrows 120.Alternatively, or in combination, the information monitor may locallycheck conditions based on the monitored information to determine when alimit is reached. For example, if a certain number of text messages havebeen sent/received in a month, the system may limit or block access toall text based applications on all devices associated with achild/employee by broadcasting the monitored information and/or limitevent to the agreement server and/or other electronic devices associatedwith the agreement performer. By determining the monitored information,for example the application being utilized, the information beingviewed, the amount of text messages input, etc., the system may locallythrottle one or more software apps or applications, or throttle theamount or speed of that monitored information, or allow or block theinformation altogether, for example to/from cell phone tower 140 a orwebsite 140 b or any other information source, or directly throttle thedevice, i.e., set maximum acceleration or speed parameters for vehiclewith computer 110 c.

In one or more embodiments, the throttle system utilizes informationthrottle 130 a, 130 b, 130 c and 130 d coupled with the agreementmonitor and optionally with the information monitor wherein theinformation throttle is configured to perform an action, based on thecompliance with the condition by the agreement performer. Informationthrottles 131 a-d may throttle increase or decrease capabilities orfunctionality or information related bandwidth or information type. Forexample if employee 101 has not completed a required corporate trainingsession, their bandwidth or access to text messages or websites may bedecreased for example by throttling electronic devices 110 a, 110 b, 110c or information to/from/used on electronic devices 110 a, 110 b, or 110c. Alternatively, throttling of bandwidth or type of information may beincreased, for example in the case of an event such as high pollen countor smog alert that the system detects or is otherwise made aware of.This encourages children or employees to remain inside to use electronicdevices in case of hazardous outdoor conditions or alternativelyencourages children or employees to locate outdoors in healthyconditions.

Thus the information throttle may be utilized to set informationparameters within the electronic device to alter the functionality orotherwise control the device in addition to throttling informationassociated with the device. These types of actions may dim the screen,play sounds, slow the device or set parameters that alter theacceleration, maximum speed, total distance allowed for travel of theelectronic device, for example when coupled with or mounted in avehicle. Alternatively, the information throttle may increaseinformation parameters that increase the functionality of the device,for example when a website determines that the outdoor pollen count istoo high, implying the agreement performer should stay inside and surfthe web or that the vehicle may have a higher speed setting based onroad conditions

For example, one or more embodiments of the throttling system may setthe maximum acceleration setting in engine control computer 110 ccoupled with the vehicle that controls the vehicle based on performanceon homework or a grade obtained on an examination as part of anagreement condition, or based on an event such as a weather event thatis discovered by the system when a weather website indicates a chance ofslippery road conditions or an accident local to an area where thevehicle is currently travelling or any combination thereof. Embodimentsof the invention may throttle information parameters up or in an anyincreasing fashion as well, wherein the acceleration setting in computer110 c on the vehicle may be increased to allow for more aggressivedriving performance if the agreement performer has complied with anagreement or in case of emergency as determined by the system or in caseof exiting an area where an accident has been passed. Furthermore, thevolume of a car radio or stations allowed, or a music player utilizedwhich represents computer 110 c in this embodiment, whether or notmoving in the vehicle, may be set based on the activities of theagreement performer, for example good grades or bad grades, or based onthe weather events for example to set a station automatically to aweather or hazard channel if the weather event detected is of aparticular nature. The combination of setting or throttling devicesthemselves or information associated therewith may be based on activitytype conditions and event type conditions or any combination thereof,which is unknown in the art.

In one or more embodiments of the invention, the agreements may includeactions/limits that are performed or enforced before a condition issatisfied. An information throttle may execute locally on devices 110 a,110 b and 110 c or remotely, for example on a router or other componentnot shown for ease of illustration, or in any other hybrid ordistributed architecture. In one or more embodiments of the invention,the information throttle may be combined with or associated with theinformation monitor or part of the same functionality or apparatus. Theinformation throttle may implement the action wherein the action isconfigured to limit the monitored information associated with one ormore electronic device, for example slow or limit the number of textmessages on a cell phone, display of web pages for any set of web sites,display a reminder on a television to finish homework if changed to aparticular channel or program, or in any other manner limit, allow orblock information, transfer money, perform notifications or take anyother action not directed at limiting information on the electronicdevice, but in support thereof for example. Information may be locallymonitored and enforced, for example the information throttle may locallylimit the application, i.e., exit the application or slow it or limit itin any other manner if a local limit is reached for example, withoutrequiring a data transfer over arrows 120, especially if the network isunavailable for example or for example if the condition does not dependon an external activity.

For example, electronic devices 110 a, 110 b and 110 c may communicateover a LAN or using technologies such as BLUETOOTH® or any otherwireless networking technology to discover and/or communicate monitoredinformation and/or limits and/or actions between the devices. Anyelectronic devices may broadcast an agreement performer identifier andmonitored information, which may be communicated in any encrypted mannerfor example. Embodiments of the invention may perform in anon-standalone or integrated manner in order to disable all texting onall devices associated with a child if a text message is sent from aparticular location, for example if “grounded”, or while moving over athreshold speed indicative of driving which is unknown in the art. Inone or more embodiments of the invention, if a text message is sent viaa mobile computer or tablet and a cell phone associated with the childis moving over a certain speed, then the computer or tablet may blockaccess by obtaining a speed event from the cell phone and determine thatthe child is attempting to bypass text throttling through use of adevice other than a cell phone to send a text message. This may beimplemented by the information monitor 131 b for example executing onelectronic device 110 b that intercepts input text characters, eitherfrom the input devices by intercepting input characters from the devicedrivers for the input devices, or from applications or browsers runningapplications that provide events that are sent to the informationmonitor which then broadcasts the application, event, and information orany combination thereof to any other electronic devices associated withthe agreement performer. Once the other electronic devices receive themonitored information message, they may locally sum the usage andimplement limits or pass the summed usage to an information throttle toimplement the limit on the device. Any other mechanism that enablesmultiple electronic devices to obtain monitored information and throttleinformation based thereon is in keeping with the spirit of theinvention.

The compliance and activity status may be based on trust, evidence orconfirmation or any combination thereof. For trust-based assertions ofactivity status or completion, the agreement performer is allowed to setthe status, e.g., assert that an activity has been satisfied, which mayor may not fully satisfy a condition that asserts an action. Inevidence-based compliance, the agreement performer is required to setstatus and provide evidence or submit any information that corroboratesthe status of the activity. This type of compliance may be utilizeduntil trust is formed between the agreement creator and agreementperformer for example. In confirmation-based compliance, the agreementperformer submits the evidence. For example, activity status may beinput for any type of compliance monitoring to an activity database 180a-c or to the agreement server, or for example on any electronic device110 a-c or via website 140 b or via any other apparatus that maycommunicate with the system. For confirmation-based compliance, theagreement creator may then confirm that the activity has been satisfiedbefore the condition enables an action to be performed for example. Anyother granularity of compliance monitoring or assertion is in keepingwith the spirit of the invention. Any type of interface may be utilizedfor input of the activity status by the agreement performer including acheckbox, character entry, mouse click, touch screen entry, etc., as oneskilled in the art will appreciate.

In a parent/child embodiment, a parent may embody agreement creator 102and may propose an agreement with a condition such as “IF all assignedhomework is completed by 9 PM” and an action such as “enable socialmedia websites for 1 hour at unlimited bandwidth across all electronicdevices associated with an agreement performer, and 1 hour with 50%speed degradation up to 20 text messages”. In this scenario, a child mayembody agreement performer 101, and may agree to the conditions in orderto obtain access to information, including websites, television shows,text messages, phone minutes, game time, music, etc. In this scenario,the condition is effectively an activity to be performed by theagreement performer, which may be stored in activity database 180 a oranywhere else in the system for example. In other scenarios, thecondition may be related to an activity performed by a third party, suchas “if payment in bank account received is greater than $50” for exampleas a result of performing chores, then an action of “enable textmessaging” for example may be implemented on the mobile phone associatedwith the child, for example if the child has earned enough money from ajob or chores. Although not shown for ease of illustration, any otherdatabase may be accessed, for example by the agreement server includingfinancial databases at a bank, medical databases associated with theagreement performer, or any other database including weather, and pollenrelated databases or websites or any other external information that maybe obtained by the agreement server for example over Internet 150.Conditions may also include time components in addition to an activity,for example when some activity is due. Alternatively, or in combination,the time component may include a time range, for example a time startand time stop. The time component may be in any format and include anytemporal information including a day, date, recurring interval such as“every other Friday”, or any other description related to time.Embodiments of the invention may implement actions that throttle orlimit monitored information in any manner. For example, actions mayinclude a time limit that limits an amount of time that the monitoredinformation may be utilized or displayed on the electronic device, or atotal across all electronic devices associated with a particularagreement performer, a numerical limit that limits a number of dataentries associated with the monitored information, a web limit thatlimits access to a website associated with the monitored information, anapplication limit that limits access to an application associated withthe monitored information, a game limit that limits game parametersassociated with the monitored information, a television limit thatlimits a television program or channel associated with the monitoredinformation.

FIG. 7 illustrates a display coupled with a television, cable set topbox, satellite set top box, or website video interface with conditioninformation shown on a throttled program, channel or video, along withan override password entry option. For example, on a television, a childmay have a particular favorite program that may be monitored via a settop box that other members of the family may or may not watch, or thetelevision may be in an area accessed by the child. If an actionlimiting a channel is taken based on activities, then the cable set topbox may show message 701 on an associated television showing the channelstating, “you cannot watch this video until your homework is completed”,optionally with the name of the child needing to finish homework. Videointerface 710, may couple with or be part of a television, computerdisplay, video based website, electronic game interface or electronicdevice applications or any other device that enables video 705 to bedisplayed. Status message 701 is displayed or otherwise overlaid in oneor more embodiments to show any type of information such as the amountof time left in viewing or total electronic device usage, and/or amessage that states that the channel, program or video throttle limithas been reached until an activity is complete, e.g., homework has beencompleted as is shown. If someone else is watching the program, then theparent may override the limit as shown with password override 703.Access to a website that hosts videos may have a more directauthentication, for example through use of a webcam associated with acomputer to determine which person is attempting to access videos basedon images taken from the webcam associated with the computer that arethen processed via facial recognition software or via otherauthentication methods, e.g., password and user account authentication.As shown, an information throttle may utilize an existing programmableinterface within the cable set top box, computer operating system or APIto display text or information, or may set the graphics or text valuesin memory which is automatically displayed, or alternatively generatethe characters inject them into the output video feed which is thendisplayed on the television or computer monitor, or display theinformation in any other manner.

FIG. 6 illustrates a game interface showing an avatar 101 a or gamepiece or player associated with agreement performer 101 in a game, alongwith throttle information based on current information monitoring andlimits in conditions along with a reward for performing an activity.With respect to games such as electronic games, an action of “limit gamepowers of soldier to have only type 1 weapons for game XYZ” may beimplemented on an electronic game to limit attributes of a child untilall of their homework is complete. This is shown as throttle information601 and limited throttle options 602, which may be shown with text orgraphically, which other local or remote users in the game may or maynot see along with the action and/or reward associated with any upcomingactivities. The agreement performer may be asked whether they would liketo quit the game and earn their reward for completing a task, forexample for completing their homework. In one or more embodiments of thethrottling system, the game application makes calls to embodiments ofthe invention requesting current limits for game play or total combinedusage limits associated with the game player, i.e., agreement performer101. In other embodiments of the throttling system, the operating systemon the electronic game hosts a service that implements the informationmonitor, which intercepts inputs and sends messages to the game tointroduce notifications, etc., when external events occur on theagreement server or when limits are reached. In other embodiments, theinformation throttle may send the messages and/or disable the game, orintroduce CPU cycles to slow the game for the agreement performer ordelay inputs by the agreement performer to make the game lessresponsive, for example while homework is still to be done. This may beperformed by the information throttle accessing the game or computeroperating system and injecting cycles or using interfaces to the gameapplication for example as one skilled in the art will appreciate. Inother embodiments, a router may implement an information monitor orinformation throttle that closes ports after game limits have beenreached or when total combined usage limits have been reached. Anycombination of the above implementations may also be utilized in keepingwith the spirit of the invention.

As limits are being accumulated per device, the limits may be combinedto form a total limit of play time for example and agreement monitor 161may add the usage of all electronic devices based on informationgathered from information monitors 131 a and 131 b and add them togetherto derive the total time that is then utilized by information throttles130 a, 130 b and 130 c to then throttle the information on those devicesto slow them significantly or disable them altogether once a thresholdof monitored information is reached, whether on a per device oracross-device basis. Activities may originate from the electronicdevices themselves and may include any output that each electronicdevice is capable of generating, such as the output results of characterinputs, to determine if a child has read an entire chapter, or completedan electronic test for example. Regardless of the origin, the activitiesmay be saved locally and/or remotely in agreement database 170.Conditions, for example the that specify event and values thereof orranges may be utilized including but not limited to orientation,location, speed or any other characteristic of an electronic device,along with a description of the application being used may then beutilized to assert an action, for example to limit text messaging acrossany or all devices, if driving for example. Events such aslocation-based events may be checked against agreements to find outwhether to assert an action to control an electronic device or throttleinformation to/from/on the electronic device. For example, if a child isgrounded, then bandwidth may be decreased or terminated outside of thegrounded area and increased when the child is within the grounded area.In addition, events such as predefined distance events that occur if anagreement performer has moved themselves over an agreed upon distanceand for example under the speed associated with a car may be utilized tothrottle or increase the amount of bandwidth or type of data that theagreement performer may interact with or game playing levels may beincreased or more aggressive games may be allowed or more weapons may beenabled within games or playlists with more energetic music may beenabled, etc. The activities may be recorded into the activity databaseassociated with the activity, namely 180 a, 180 b or 180 c or in anyother manner recorded, for example locally until a network connection isobtained. Any local area network devices associated with the agreementperformer may query and find each other using any type of networkprotocol, such as mNDS and share monitored information and throttlelocal devices accordingly.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a schema utilized in an embodimentof an agreement database. Agreement database 170 may be an objectoriented or relational database as shown for ease of illustration, orany other type of data retaining apparatus. This may include memory,distributed memory or any other type of device that is configured toretain data. The agreement held in the agreement table 171 generallyincludes information such as fields that related to a first uniqueidentifier associated with the agreement performer, shown in the figureas a “perform. ID” field, a second unique identifier associated with theagreement creator, shown in the figure as “creator ID”, a condition tobe satisfied by the agreement performer, shown as the third field, andan action to be performed based on compliance with the condition by theagreement performer shown as the fourth field. Conditions may be in theform of text or XML or keys into other tables or references to otherobjects. The format of the conditions may be any format so long as theactivity or event and associated action may be associated with oneanother. In addition, information related to the electronic devicesassociated with an agreement performer may be stored in device table 172for example with the unique identifier of the agreement performer and aunique identifier associated with each electronic device, which is shownas the “equip. ID” field, with an address such as an IP address, or anyother address, phone number of manner of identifying the particularelectronic device, along with a type field for the type of theelectronic device, which may for example be a manufacturer, model orserial number or any other quantity associated with the particularelectronic device or any combination thereof. In addition, monitoredinformation may be stored in monitored information table 173, withrespective quantities for the types of information that the device mayinput, output, use or exchange. This table may alternatively be storedlocal to devices 110 a-c or in any other component in the system in adistributed manner and communicated to the agreement monitor, oralternatively the agreement monitor may run local to a device or in anyother configuration so long as throttling can occur. This may includefields such as usage, texts, time, pages, television channel, televisionprogram, game, location, distance traveled, velocity or accelerationvalues obtained from any device in the system, or any other quantity.The information may be stored and purged as desired for particular timeperiods for storage saving considerations or may be retained in entiretyfor data mining purposes for example. Embodiments of the invention maybe configured to enable payment for data mining of the informationregarding activities, usage, equipment identification or any otherquantity stored in any element of the system. Embodiments of theinvention may also be purchased on a fee for use basis, monthly basis,enterprise basis, or in any other manner to enable access to any recordsor any information in database 170, 180 a-c across one or more agreementperformers or agreement creators. In one or more embodiments, agreementserver 160 may be utilized by a data miner to access information in thesystem, including but not limited to any of the fields or tables orother data shown in FIG. 2, or any other information utilized and savedby the system. Although not shown for brevity, other tables for personaldata associated with the agreement performer and/or agreement creatormay be utilized to store financial, medical, weather or allergy-related,or preference data or any other type of data, which may also be datamined, for example using agreement server 160. One or more embodimentsmay utilize tables that have a foreign key or other indicator to tie therecords or objects to a particular agreement performer or creator, asone skilled in the art will recognize. This type of data may also bemined along with any of the other data utilized in the system, (see FIG.11 for an example data mining interface). In addition, other tablesincluding a “friends” or group table listing all friends of a child, orcoworkers in a group associated with a child or employee i.e., perform.ID as the key, with friend ID, or second performer ID as shown, as afield, optionally with contact information, parent contact information,privacy level of access, associations/clubs/common activities, etc., mayalso be stored in any desired level. The friend associations may also bedata mined and otherwise processed to determine optimal sets of friendsfor a child, and to alert a parent for example if one of the child'sfriends is in trouble, grounded, getting bad grades, etc., so that theparent may take appropriate corrective action as soon as possible.

Non-time oriented conditions, or conditions based on events may also beimplemented, for example if a speed of an electronic device isindicative of driving, an action such as limiting or disabling textmessaging from one or more electronic devices associated with anagreement performer may be implemented. This condition may be broadcastwidely or locally to limit or disable text messaging if moving over acertain speed indicative of driving or may be conditional based on alocation of movement, such as in a school zone. For example, speed andrange may be utilized with respect to cell phones that commonly have GPSchips or other location based functional element such as cell towertriangulation location features. In this scenario a condition may be “ifagreement performer is travelling faster than a defined speed at aparticular location” with an action of “ground individual by sendingmessages to the agreement performer and agreement creator and limit cellphone usage to home number and 911 only and enable only informationaltelevision programs”. By monitoring the speed of the cell phone andmonitoring the location, which can be translated into a speed limit oneach street being traveled, the system may ensure that the child is notin a vehicle that is speeding, whether driving or not. Conversely, ifthe cell phone has not moved during school a warning action may resultin a text message to a parent notifying the parent that the child isattempting to circumvent the system by leaving the cell phone in alocker for the lunch period, or for example is texting using an app on amobile computer or tablet other than the cell phone. Any quantity thatmay be monitored may be utilized to perform an action that limits orthrottles information, or transfers money or notifies an interestedparty or performs any other action. The schemas described are notlimited to the fields described and may be implemented with any otherfields or the fields described or any combination thereof as desired forthe particular implementation and electronic devices to be utilized withembodiments of the system for example. Any other condition or actionthat throttles information to one or more electronic devices associatedwith an agreement performer is in keeping with the spirit of theinvention. Alternatively, or in combination, if an agreement performerhas walked or run over a certain distance as per the GPS tracking on theelectronic device associated with the agreement performer, thenbandwidth or access may be increased. This may be utilized for medicalpurposes to ensure that the agreement performer is getting theprescribed amount of exercise. In addition, bandwidth or access time oraccess to particular games, websites, text messaging or any otherelectronic device usage may be increased for example on days with highsmog or high pollen counts or based on any other external condition,whether medical or not.

FIG. 3 illustrates multiple embodiments of schemas utilized inembodiments of activity databases that contain activity statusassociated with the condition to be satisfied by agreement performer101. Activity databases 180 a and 180 b may be integrated with theagreement database or separate or distributed in any manner as desired.As shown, the activity databases may include fields that describe theactivity, activity status such as complete or not or a percentagecomplete for example, a due date or any other temporal quantity relatedto a task including start date, repeat period, or any other quantityalong with performance data such as a grade. One or more embodiments ofthe invention may interface with or otherwise utilize one or moreactivity databases that include activities related to schoolwork, choresor extracurricular activities or any combination thereof. Activity table181 a may for example be targeted at homework or be part of a schoolinformation system (SIS), while activity table 181 b may be targeted atchores and include amount of payment for particular activities such asmowing the lawn for example. Any other schemas may be utilized asdesired so long as they are capable of associating an agreementperformer with an activity and status thereof. For example, an activitydatabase such as a school information system that includes homeworkactivities and other assignments or tasks and associated activity statusmay be utilized. In addition, a parent may implement a similar systemwith chore related activities including “mow the lawn every otherSaturday” with associated activity status of True or False for thecurrent time period. The associated action may include “enable 20 extraphone minutes” or “enable TV program XYZ” or any other action including“transfer $20 to allowance money card” for the payment of an allowancefor example. The activity status may information related to completionof an activity assigned to the agreement performer in the form ofBoolean True or False, or a range, which may be utilized a range ofactions based on a condition of “grade A”, “grade B”, “grade C”conditions in a particular class or on a particular test or as acumulative average across classes or any other combination thereof. Thisrange of conditions may be utilized to provide a corresponding range ofactions that correspond to the different grades, for example “provideunlimited web browsing”, “degrade browsing speed by 20%”, “send alertwhen electronic device is greater than 0.25 miles from home and sendtext to agreement performer stating You Are Grounded”, to implement a“grounding” respectively. Compliance with corporate or institutionalrequirements may also be performed with any activity data store capableof holding the agreements associated with these types of entities.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of the functionality employed byagreement monitor 161. As shown, the agreement monitor accepts inputrelated to the agreement creator and agreement performer at 401 and inone or more embodiments of the invention creates unique identifiers foruse in database 170 for example. In addition, the agreement monitoraccepts at least one condition and at least one action. The informationmay be stored in any location in the system, or in multiple locationsdepending on the architecture employed, as one skilled in the art willrecognize. The agreement monitor accepts any electronic device relatedinformation at 402, including any directly related IP addresses or phonenumbers or television IP address, or any indirectly related informationcable set top box identifier, any channels or shows that a particularagreement performer is known to view, or any other information which maybe utilized to control information on the electronic device. Theinformation monitors on the various electronic devices monitorinformation and sends the monitored information or characteristics ofthe monitored information to the agreement monitor. The monitoredinformation may include key strokes, number of text messages, URLs,images from the screen of the electronic device or images taken with thecamera of the electronic device, for example to ensure that theagreement performer is the one using the electronic device, speed andlocation of the electronic device or any other metadata associated withthe device and not the input, output or exchange of data from thedevice. The agreement monitor may then accept the monitored informationand sum usage or other information across multiple electronic devicesassociated with the agreement performer at 403. If there is no networkconnection available, but local BLUETOOTH® or other wireless local areanetwork communications are available, then all of the local electronicdevices may pass monitored information to one another to locally sumusage. The summed usage is sent to all electronic devices and/orinformation throttles at 404 for local use and to potentially implementprevious limit settings, either from the agreement monitor or via localcommunications if no wide area network connection is available at thetime. The agreement monitor checks activity status at 405 foractivity-based conditions associated with the agreement performer andany accepts discovers or finds or in any other manner obtains events,such as weather, health, or any other events and when status changes orevents occur, conditions are checked at 405. If a Condition has beensatisfied, is within range or above or below a threshold, then theAction is performed at 406, otherwise, the agreement monitor acceptsmonitored information at 403. The action performed may be sent to allinformation throttles to update their local settings and enforce actionsat 407 if conditions are satisfied. The action may throttle theelectronic device or throttle information to/from/used/on the electronicdevice for example. Although shown as an event based architecture, theelectronic devices may also poll the agreement server or other localelectronic devices or any other device to determine if any condition hasbeen satisfied. Any notifications may be sent at 408, for example toinform the agreement creator of compliance or non-compliance with thecondition, or for status updates for monitored information for example.Alternatively or in combination, any apparatus in the system may beutilized to send any notification.

Any combination of hardware may be utilized to implement the system. Inone or more embodiments, the agreement monitor is configured to executeon the server computer that for example be remotely accessed over acomputer network. This is not required however and the agreement monitormay execute on any computational device in the system. For example, theinformation monitor may execute on a mobile phone associated with theagreement creator or in any other computational element or acrossmultiple computational elements that make up the system.

FIG. 5 illustrates embodiments of various components or electronicdevices in the system that may be utilized to host an informationmonitor, information throttle and optionally the agreement server ifdesired, or any combination thereof. The information monitor 131 a or131 b and information throttle 130 a or 130 may execute on an electronicdevice associated with the agreement performer, or shared or indirectlyrelated devices such as router 501, or a cable set top box, electronicgame apparatus for example which may be include or be part of or utilizeany type of game controller and/or game console, music player, and anyother type of electronic devices, which are not shown for brevity, orany other computational component coupled with the system or anycombination thereof so long as the information monitor and informationthrottle may limit monitored information associated with the agreementperformer based on compliance with an agreement, or external conditionfor example. In one or more embodiments, the information monitor isconfigured to interface with a proxy server or web filtering software orany other content filtering component 502, to enable existing hardwareor software content filtering solutions to throttle monitoredinformation based on compliance by an agreement performer, in additionto their inherent content filtering. At least one embodiment of thesystem may utilize an electronic device such as a telephone, a computersuch as a laptop, tablet, smart phone, or a music player, a gamecontroller, or a television, or associated set top box, or any otherdevice such as a network interfaced device or any information input oroutput device, or any combination thereof. In one or more embodiments,any electronic device on a local area network may communicate with anyother electronic device on the local area network to coordinate or inany other manner communicate information regarding monitoring andenforcement, for example using mDNS.

As shown, a hardware, software or firmware embodiment of informationmonitor 131 a may be utilized in router 501 which may interface withinformation throttle 130 a directly or indirectly, which itself may beimplemented in hardware, software or firmware. Likewise, informationmonitors 131 b shown respectively on smart phone 110 a and computer 110b may be implemented as software “apps” or part of an “app”, service orin any combination of hardware or firmware. As smart phone 110 aincludes a telephonic interface as well as wireless interface, the usageof the telephone and browser and/or any applications that execute on thesmart phone may be obtained by loading the app on the phone andexecuting the app. The app may hook into the operating system and notonly obtain usage associated with the other applications and interfaces,but also with other components on the smart phone including the locationand orientation interfaces to determine if the location is changing withrespect to time to derive velocity. In addition, existing apps on thesmart phone may be interfaced with in order to limit the apps whereinthe apps may be locked or set to execute at a lower priority based onthe action implemented by the information throttle. In addition, imagesmay be taken from the screen for use in determining if the owner of thesmart phone is attempting to bypass text or chat restrictions using abrowser-based proxy. Images from the camera on the smart phone may betaken from the forward or rear-pointing camera if so equipped to ensurethat the person using the smart phone is agreement performer. Imageprocessing may be performed to determine if the face in a captured imagematches the face of the agreement performer and send a notification ifthis is not the case. In the hardware embodiment shown in FIG. 5, thesmart phone and the computer are wirelessly communicating with router501 that in turn also implements an information monitor and informationthrottle, 131 a and 130 a respectively. The information monitors maymonitor different information in a harmonized manner in order tominimize processing on each device. For example, the smart phoneinformation monitor may monitor app specific usage while the routerinformation monitor may monitor web URLs being viewed on the smart phoneor may be utilized to detect known open proxy server addresses for anattempt to bypass the system. The information throttle on the smartphone may be capable of interjecting CPU cycles based on an action toslow the device or degrade performance while the information throttle onthe router may add delays for the particular user with limits and allowother users of the router to pass on a priority basis or unhindered. Theinformation throttles may also communicate over router 501 to theagreement server or the agreement monitor may run locally on any of thethree devices depicted. Due to the ubiquitous nature of television andmedia websites with videos, television channels or programs that areavailable on television for example via a television tuner, satellitetuner, or cable set top box tuner, which may be also available on asmart phone via a cable company application may be limited in asynchronized manner so that the set top box and the smart phone allowonly a particular amount of time to be watched with respect to aparticular channel or television show so that a child cannot bypass therestrictions through use of multiple devices. In the architecture shown,if an agreement performer is able to bypass one information monitor orinformation throttle, then another information monitor and informationthrottle in the information pipeline enables the system to perform in amore robust manner. Embodiments that throttle electronic devicesassociated with apparatus such as vehicles for example may includesoftware components that execute in one or more of the vehiclescomputers, or which interface to one or more information bus and sendvehicle control messages on the bus, such as a CAN or Controller AreaNetwork bus, or LIN or Local Interconnect Network bus, for example thatinterfaces with an On-Board Diagnostics connector, which has beenrequired in all cars sold in the U.S. since 1996 as one skilled in theart will appreciate. This enables setting of acceleration or otherparameters such as timing or maximum fuel injection that may be utilizedto indirectly set maximum velocity or acceleration. In addition, one ormore embodiments may interface or control a D2B or domestic digital bushigh speed multimedia interface or any other communication interface ina vehicle to throttle sound or video for example.

In one or more embodiments, monitored information includes telephonetime usage, a number of telephone calls, a telephone number, a number oftext messages, a location of the electronic device, a speed of theelectronic device, a website address, a computer application that isrunning or has run or attempted to run, a game, a television channel, atelevision program, a video, an image captured from the electronicdevice, an image captured from a camera coupled with the electronicdevice, a speed and location of the electronic device. Embodiments ofthe invention may implement an action configured to limit the monitoredinformation to limit input to, output from or data exchange with theelectronic device. Other actions may transfer money, send notificationsto other parties, etc. Alternatively or in combination an action may beconfigured to limit the monitored information in a manner for examplethat degrade performances on the electronic device as previouslymentioned. This may be implemented as processing cycles or time delaysthat may be inserted between accepting input or displaying informationor transferring information to or from the electronic device. Any or allof this information may be data mined as well as any other informationdescribed herein or that may be obtained by the system.

In one or more embodiments, the action may be performed across two ormore electronic devices associated with the agreement performer, forexample a telephone, a computer, a music player, a game or a television,or any other information input or output device, or any combinationthereof. In this embodiment, the agreement monitor is configured to sumthe monitored information from each respective information monitor intoa combined monitored information total and the information throttle isconfigured to limit the monitored information on each of the two or moreelectronic devices based on the combined monitored information total.This for example can be utilized to limit total time spent by a childonline, watching television, playing electronic games, texting andtalking on the phone, so that the child for example may do any of theseactivities so long as the time spent doing all of the activities is lessthan a particular threshold, after which for example a degradedperformance may be employed on one or more of the electronic devices ifdesired. Although this example relates to time, it may also relate toany monitored information. For example, limiting a child to 1 hour webbrowsing across all electronic devices such as a cell phone, tabletcomputer and laptop computer is accomplished by adding the usage fromall monitored devices and throttling all devices when the limit isreached. This sophisticated throttling of information is unknown in theart with respect to agreement compliance and known content filters andmakes the agreement monitor the enforcer, not the parent.

FIG. 8 illustrates an interface for an agreement creator, such as aparent, showing information that has been data mined relative to otherparents, children, relative or absolute performance status ofactivities, actions such as rewards, or recommended rewards, graphicalinformation depicting any combination of information and any warnings.At least one embodiment of the information throttle is configured tonotify the agreement creator based on the compliance. This can be in theform of an email, text message, web page, voice message, or any othertype of communication and may include a display such as a visual oraudio display of information related to the compliance. As shown, theagreement creator may be notified in a visual display 810 showingrelative strictness 801 of an agreement creator based on the level ofreprimands or threshold for conditions required for compliance, or inany other manner. Audio or text based notifications are also in keepingwith the spirit of the invention. For example, the agreement creator maybe notified as to the relative level of rewards given for conditioncompliance at 802. Overall status of an agreement performer may be shownat 803 along with suggestions or recommendations based on any quantityincluding performance. In addition, the friends associated with a child,for example if a table of friends 174 in FIG. 2 is implemented withrespect to agreement performers, i.e., an additional table is added tothe system with a primary key of agreement performer with an additionalfield of another agreement performer, i.e., friend. In this embodiment,then the friend's performance may also be shown at 804. See also thedescription of FIG. 2 that details optional friend related information.This information may be utilized by a group of parents or employers tothrottle electronic devices or associated information based on theactivities and performance related thereto by the group. Any quantity orrelationship of any of the data or any other data in the system may beshown with graphical interface 805. For example a map of availabledrivers may be displayed showing where vetted drivers for adolescent areavailable, for example if a child is stranded and needs a ride or isintoxicated. Warning information may be shown at 806 to warn anagreement creator of potential issues, so that corrective action cantake place before problems occur instead of after problems occur. Inaddition, the agreement monitor may be configured to display informationto the agreement creator or other party related to an attempt to bypassthe action configured to limit the monitored information by theagreement performer.

Alternatively or in combination, the agreement monitor is configured todisplay information related to the compliance and the monitoredinformation. FIG. 9 illustrates an interface for an agreement performer,such as a child, showing upcoming deadlines or events 901, along withany actions such as rewards or reprimands at 902, activity status at903, along with activity status that has been data mined with respect toa group of children that are the child's friends at 904, graphicalinformation for example a map which shows a boundary of grounding at 905if a particular activity status is not achieved for a test for example,along with any medical or other warnings at 906. Any other integratedinformation including medical records and/or financial may be utilizedin combination with embodiments of the invention as part of a totalplatform to aid and/or for managing an agreement performer such as achild. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the informationdisplayed in FIGS. 8-9, or any subset thereof may be played in audioformat or any other format for example to an agreement creator and/oragreement performer. The agreement creator in one or more embodiments ofthe invention may view any or all portions of the notifications orstatus for any related agreement performer.

The agreement monitor is generally configured to accept input from theagreement creator to define the condition and the action. Any type ofinterface including text fields or pull-down lists may be utilized toenter data as is known in the art. Predefined agreements and/orconditions may be provided for default behavior. For example, a defaultof 1 hour per day of electronic usage from combined devices until allschool related activities are complete wherein an addition 1 hour may berewarded, may be a default for example. Any other type of defaultactions and/or conditions may be utilized in keeping with the spirit ofthe invention.

In addition, the notification system may be utilized to enable schoolsto determine if a child is behaving according to agreements at home,while the system enables a parent to determine if the child is behavingaccording to agreements at school. Such a system enables problems to beaddressed earlier and corrective action to be taken by the systeminstead of making the parent or the teacher the “bad guy”.

FIG. 11 illustrates a data mining interface 1110 for example that mayexecute on agreement server 160 or any computer that may communicatewith the system shown in FIG. 1 to enter data queries 1101, 1102 and1103 or any different or other data or types of data to find actions1104, activities, products, equipment/usage 1105/1106, or anycombination thereof based on a query of information in the systemrelated to data associated with any item of information in the system.Agreement server 160 or any other component in the system may beutilized to charge for the data mining activities and accept payment orsend payment to any financial entity that may couple with Internet 150in FIG. 1 for example. For example, data mining of the information maybe performed on any information in the system for example to extractpatterns or any other type of information from the various data in thesystem. Embodiments of the invention may also be configured to enablemanufacturers to data mine for types of rewards or incentives and targeta group of parents or persons that may buy certain types of products,for example based on agreements and conditions. This also enablesmanufacturers to target parents of friends of a child that just won aparticular reward for achieving a condition for example. For example,any entity may utilize the system to data mine for types of rewards thatmay be utilized for a reward that is similar to a reward for a conditionthat another parent or person has utilized, for example with respect toa particular condition, e.g., a reward for an “A” on a final exam. Inone or more embodiments, access to agreement database 170 or activitydatabases 180 a-c may be provided for example via website 140 b oragreement server 160 for example. As shown in FIGS. 1-3, access to largenumbers of agreement performers enables data mining of patterns that areassociated with agreements, conditions, actions, equipment and usage. Inaddition, data mining may be performed using any personal dataassociated with agreement creators and agreement performers. In one ormore embodiments, net asset or annual income of an agreement performermay be utilized to find patterns of rewards that are given based oncompliance with agreements to enable manufacturers to target particularagreement creators, for example market particular products to particularparents that have children in an age group where a type of reward mayhave been given before. This type of direct marketing has a higherchance of success when patterns indicate that a particular parent maybenefit from purchasing a reward for a child when activity status wouldindicate that a child is highly motivated to achieve satisfy anagreement when the product is available as a reward.

Embodiments of the invention also enable parents or other persons toremain up to date on items popular amongst children that are based onagreements that other parents have entered and which have resulted inrewards for meeting conditions of the agreements. This allows parents toreceive product literature, overviews, pictures, movies, blogs or otherinformation to keep a parent “hip”. Embodiments of the invention maydisplay or notify an agreement creator and/or agreement performer ofpotential rewards, using any apparatus that may couple with any portionof the system shown in FIG. 1 for example.

Embodiments of the invention may be configured to display potentialrewards on an electronic device being utilized by a person, for examplebased on bandwidth usage based on information monitoring with respect toa condition of an agreement, to provide further incentive to perform atask for example. Alternatively or in combination, embodiments of theinvention may also provide popups or text messages or audio messagesduring video, music or game play listing tasks to be completed accordingto agreements. This capability allows a child to sense a potentialreward for studying, for example while playing a game, wherein the childmay make a decision to go study or simply to remind the child that atest is coming up or that homework is due.

FIG. 10 illustrates a notification 1010 to an agreement creator and/orperformer indicating that contact from a sex offender or other unwantedcontact has been received at 1001 along with an interface for contactinglaw enforcement. Embodiments of the system may plot the location of thesex offender based on or using sex offender addresses 1002 and/or maps1003 and IP tracing, and alert authorities at 1004 and potentiallythrottle other forms of electronic device utilization to further protecta child. Other map-based displays may be utilized to show potentialrides for children when they are stranded as has been discussed.

Embodiments of the throttling system may also alert a parent when achild's friends have gotten in trouble or are not meeting theiragreements, so that a parent may limit a child's interactions withparticular people or groups. Embodiments may be utilized in a one-personconfiguration to throttle usage based on addictive behavior such asonline gambling or obsessive pornography viewing. Embodiments of thesystem may also allow for information in the system to be data mined,wherein an agreement database having multiple parents and children ismined to determine whether a parent is strict or not strict, or to ratehow strict a parent is being with respect to other parents, agreementsand conditions, or in any other manner rate what kind of parent a parentis based on how a child is performing and the rewards that a child isreceiving for example. Embodiments of the invention may also providetips or recommendations based on parent and/or child behavior withrespect to agreements, for example as data mined to achieve betterperformance by the child. The system may provide a suggested type ofaction to take based on levels of performance of conditions by a childfor example. The system enables grouping of multiple students and thismay be utilized by schools for their mining purposes as well as toprovide parents with control over who a child congregates with and whichsets of kids are good or undesirable as friends. Then, a parent maychoose to allow a child to perform activities with a certain group ofchildren, e.g., the smart children (for example with the highest gradesin the group of children), or the ones that are the hardest working(satisfy the most conditions), etc. Any electronic device in the systemmay be utilized to display or otherwise present status, notifications,tips or suggestions. Data mining may also be performed to detectattention deficit disorder (ADD) or any other medical condition, forexample by mining for patterns in monitored information, such asreaction time in games, grades and derivatives of grades to determine ifa child is improving or getting worse for example with respect tocertain medications. Data mining may be utilized to suggest alternativecourses of treatment that increase or decrease the throttled informationor enable or disable particular forms of communication, channels, appsor games, etc., to improve an agreement performer or the performance ofan agreement performer, for example with our without data mininginformation related to medical information.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flow chart for the information monitors of FIG. 1.As shown, information is monitored at 1201 on each electronic deviceassociated with an agreement performer. The monitored information isbroadcast to the agreement server and/or the other electronic devicesassociated with the agreement performer at 1202. Any incoming events arereceived at 1203 by each electronic device, for example when activitystatus changes, i.e., some task has been performed by the agreementperformer, or an external task has occurred, such as the agreementperformer earned enough money from chores to pay for their cell phone.If a condition has been satisfied, e.g., associated with an activity orevent as determined on the agreement server or locally on the electronicdevice at 1204, then an action or throttle is performed at 1205. If thecondition or limit has not been satisfied or reached respectively, thenprocessing continues at 1201. If the action or throttle is performed at1205, then optionally a notification may be sent to the agreementcreator or anyone else including the agreement performer that the actionor throttle has taken place at 1206.

FIG. 13 illustrates a flow chart for the ensuring information that ismonitored is associated with the correct agreement performer. Eachelectronic device, or application or service thereon that is capable ofauthenticating an agreement performer does so at 1301. The identity ofthe electronic device, i.e., computer name, cell phone number, IPaddress of game controller, etc., is obtained at 1302. The identity ofthe device is broadcast at 1303 to the agreement server or localelectronic devices along with the identity of the agreement performerusing the device. If the electronic device is unknown to the system,which may indicate that a child is attempting to bypass the system byusing someone else's computer, then the electronic device identifier maybe stored as a new entry in table 172 of FIG. 2 for example, and anoptional notification of the new device may be sent to the agreementcreator, e.g., to alert them of any attempt to bypass the system.Authentication may utilize any known mechanism to determine who isutilizing the system, including hooks into social media websites when auser logins in for example, wherein the social media site may make usagecalls to embodiments of the agreement server for example, i.e., act asan information monitor and alert the agreement server and/or anyinformation throttles of the usage.

FIG. 14 illustrates a high level architecture for information monitorsand information throttles and their relation to the electronic deviceand agreement server. Any electronic device 110 with an interface 1401,whether wireless or wired communication interface, that may be throttledby one or more embodiments of the system. The application may be astandard executable, which executes on an operating system or webplatform as script or code in a remote server for example. Embodimentsof the information monitor hook into the application or operating systemor web platform and monitor inputs and potentially throttle informationat 1403. For example as previously discussed, the information monitormay intercept key strokes or other input device events from theoperating system and/or device drivers associated with the inputdevices, or accept events from the application 1402 for example thatallows the information monitor to monitor information. The informationmonitor and information throttle may communicate to local electronicdevices or to an agreement server 160 as shown. Alternatively, theagreement server may be local to electronic device 110 or in anycomponent or that may communicate with any component shown in FIG. 1.The information throttle may limit information exchange or displayand/or make calls to the operating system to slow the system, dim thedisplay, introduce delays, set any parameters, or exit the applicationfor example based on the monitored information and any limits storedlocally or remotely. Any other architecture that enables an electronicdevice to monitor and throttle information is in keeping with the spiritof the invention.

While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means ofspecific embodiments and applications thereof, numerous modificationsand variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A data mining system for agreement compliancecontrolled information throttle comprising: an agreement databasecomprising an agreement comprising an agreement creator and an agreementperformer wherein said agreement comprises a first unique identifierassociated with said agreement performer; a second unique identifierassociated with said agreement creator; a condition to be satisfied bysaid agreement performer or an event; an action to be performed based oncompliance with said condition by said agreement performer or saidevent; an activity database comprising activity status associated withsaid condition to be satisfied by said agreement performer; a monitoredinformation database comprising monitored information associated with anelectronic device that is associated with said agreement performer; acomputer configured to present an interface to query said agreementdatabase, said activity database and said monitored information databaseand return a result of said query.
 2. The data mining system foragreement compliance controlled information throttle of claim 1 whereinsaid condition comprises an activity to be performed by said agreementperformer.
 3. The data mining system for agreement compliance controlledinformation throttle of claim 1 wherein said condition comprises anactivity to be performed by said agreement performer and a time at whichsaid activity is due.
 4. The data mining system for agreement compliancecontrolled information throttle of claim 1 wherein said action comprisesone or more of a time limit that limits an amount of time that saidmonitored information may be displayed on said electronic device, anumerical limit that limits a number of data entries associated withsaid monitored information, a web limit that limits access to a websiteassociated with said monitored information, an application limit thatlimits access to an application associated with said monitoredinformation, a game limit that limits game parameters associated withsaid monitored information, a television limit that limits a televisionprogram or channel associated with said monitored information, amonetary transfer, a notification, a setting of a control parameter forsaid electronic device to control an apparatus coupled with saidelectronic device.
 5. The data mining system for agreement compliancecontrolled information throttle of claim 1 wherein said activitydatabase comprises activities related to schoolwork, chores,extracurricular activities or compliance with a requirement or anycombination thereof.
 6. The data mining system for agreement compliancecontrolled information throttle of claim 1 wherein said activitydatabase comprises a school information system.
 7. The data miningsystem for agreement compliance controlled information throttle of claim1 wherein said activity status comprises information related tocompletion of an activity assigned to said agreement performer.
 8. Thedata mining system for agreement compliance controlled informationthrottle of claim 1 wherein said monitored information comprises anycombination of a telephone time usage, a number of telephone calls, atelephone number, a number of text messages, a location of saidelectronic device, a speed of said electronic device, a website address,a computer application, a game, a television channel, an image capturedfrom said electronic device, an image captured from a camera coupledwith said electronic device, a speed, an orientation, a distance, anacceleration, or a location of said electronic device.
 9. The datamining system for agreement compliance controlled information throttleof claim 1 wherein said electronic device comprises a telephone, acomputer, a music player, a game or a television or a vehicle computeror a remote control or an appliance any combination thereof.
 10. Thedata mining system for agreement compliance controlled informationthrottle of claim 1 wherein said query result comprises: a rewardoptionally comprising a product manufacturer or product identifierassociated with said action wherein said reward is a result ofcompliance with said condition for at least one agreement performer. 11.The data mining system for agreement compliance controlled informationthrottle of claim 1 wherein said query result comprises: a suggestedreward for said agreement creator to give to said agreement performerbased on a location entered in said query.
 12. The data mining systemfor agreement compliance controlled information throttle of claim 1wherein said query result comprises: a rating that indicates how strictsaid agreement creator is with respect to other agreement creators. 13.The data mining system for agreement compliance controlled informationthrottle of claim 1 wherein said query result comprises: a tip orsuggestion for said agreement creator to increase performance of saidagreement performer based on a second action associated with anotheragreement performer and activity information related to anotheragreement performer.
 14. The data mining system for agreement compliancecontrolled information throttle of claim 1 wherein said query resultcomprises: a tip or suggestion for said agreement creator to increasehealthiness of said agreement performer based on a second actionassociated with another agreement performer and activity informationrelated to another agreement performer.
 15. The data mining system foragreement compliance controlled information throttle of claim 1 whereinsaid query result comprises: a derivative of a grade point average todetermine if said agreement performer is increasing or decreasing inperformance with respect to actions associated with said agreementperformer.
 16. The data mining system for agreement compliancecontrolled information throttle of claim 1 wherein said query resultcomprises: an indication of attention deficit disorder or ADD based onsaid monitored information or said activity status.
 17. The data miningsystem for agreement compliance controlled information throttle of claim1 wherein said query result comprises: an indication of lack of physicalactivity or increased physical activity based on changes in incentivesassociated with said action.
 18. The data mining system for agreementcompliance controlled information throttle of claim 1 wherein said queryresult comprises: a derivative of game reaction time as an indication ofhealth of said agreement performer.
 19. The data mining system foragreement compliance controlled information throttle of claim 1 whereinsaid computer comprises a web interface.
 20. The data mining system foragreement compliance controlled information throttle of claim 1 whereinsaid computer comprises a mobile phone.